A conversation with Nelson, on a Freo street corner:

“See that dog over there? Tied up for fuckin’ ages. The owner’s left ‘im. Hours! If ‘e comes back, I’ll thump ‘im.”

“I remember a dog on a beach, sometime in Asia. It was staked in the water so that it’d be half up to its ears at high tide. I shouted at the owner, he ran towards me and screamed…”

“If I was a dog, would you save me? ….Ma…dad chopped half his leg after he was taken away.        8 kids in our family. All gone. So where you from?”

“England”

“We was there. Brighton, Gloucester – real cold. An’ we went to South Africa.”

“God, what was that like?”

“My last name Nelson. Special in Africa….Ain’t nothing goin to happen to you here. You’re on sacred land.”